Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 175, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1917 — French Expect Big Things of Qur Fighters [ARTICLE]

French Expect Big Things of Qur Fighters

American Officers, However, Think Hopes Will Not Be Realized for Months. PRESSURE OF STRUGGLE FELT Army Men Want Joffre Back at the , Front—“ Morale” the Problem That Is Confronting the Foreign Belligerents How the Censorship Works. By LINCOLN EYRE. ((Correspondent of the New York World.) Paris. —A few minutes before the special train bringing General Pershing and his staff from Boulogne rolled into the Gare du Nord the other duy a trainload of “permissionalres”—soldiers on leave from the front —arrived at the same station. The “poiius," leaning out of their dusty third class coaches, caught sight of Marshal Joffre standing on the platform waiting, with M. Ribot, the premier; M. Vivlanl. minister of justice, and other dignitaries, to welcome the American (Commander in chief to the capital. “Vive Joffre!” shrieked a “permisBlonaire,” and the cry was taken up all along the line of dense-packed cars. “It’s he who spared our lives in useless attacks,” shouted a bronzed, bearded veteran, “we want Joffre back at the front!” yelled his companions, **We want Joffre, who doesn’t waste our lives ! Give us Joffre I” The Problem of Morale. Fortunately the cry, which could not have failed to reach the ears of (the prime minister as well as the marshal, died away in the excitement of General Pershing’s arrival. To those Who had heard, however, and who are aware of the situation on the front and In the interior of France today, its significance was not lost. To me it meant that after almost three years of incessant slaughter, the “poilu” has learned to distinguish very clearly between leaders who sacrifice their men uselessly and those who, like the victor of the Marne, never make a move without counting, the possible cost in lives. It was, moreover, another bit of evidence that there is no more important problem among all those at present confronting belligerent governments than that of “morale." The spirits of the men in the trenches, as well as of their wives, sisters, sXveethearts, parents in the rear, must be kept up to the mark. Every day increases the strain upon soldiers and civilians in war-harassed nations. Tight-strung nerves are spanning apart everywhere in the cities and villages, far from the ring line, as much as in the zone of the armies. That is why the comIng of Pershing and his division is of such immeasurable value in the neverceasing propaganda going on over all France to maintain at the necessary level France’s determination to win the war. American officers, who have sensed this Insistence upon the greatness of the aid to be provided by the United States are a bit fearful that expectations difficult of realization will be aroused among the French army and people. They know the obstacles that lie in the way of immediate military co-operation on a grand scale and feel that a great many months must elapse before the weight of American arms can itself felt in the fighting. Allow for Frightful Strain. “Today our principal preoccupation mist be the prevention of that lassitude and discouragement which, as our enemies hope, will weaken our national defense by corroding the iron of our arms.” was the way Compere Morel, one of the heads of the Socialist party in the chamber of deputies, sadd in a conversation I had with him re--cently. “Authority must be used with greatest ease, justice must be unwavering. More than that, allowances

must be made for the duration of the frightful strain under which soldiers and folk at home alike are laboring. Discipline ’ must be maintained, of course, but this is not the time for martinets. “Without indicating the moral state of. our troops, it would, be nevertheless vain to deny that those engaged in this appallipg conflict are morally and physically tired. To pretend that we are as strong spiritually as we were at the time of the M» rne ls absurd. Disaster is certain to follow a refusal to recognize the wear and tear upon the nerves of men, and women, too, bearing the fearful burden of this war." Little of the tremendous pressure of the struggle upon individuals is visible to the casual observer. One might travel through France from end to end and never get a glimpse of it. The soldiers one sees seem cheerful enough. There i$ bustle and movement in the streets of the cities. Even in the’ slums the surface of things reveals no tragedy. Listen to the talk of “poiius” among themselves, however, and sit alongside a circle of gossiping housewives of the poorer class, and one will soon detect the tautness of their nerves and the weariness pervading their thoughts. The newspapers are silent about all this; firstly, because of the censorship, and, secondly, because they necessarily tfre part of the conscious or unconscious propaganda for the maintenance of morale. When incidents occur they print only what they are told by the official press bureau. A paragraph like this, for Instance, means little to a reader not familiar with such matters : “Last night at seven o’clock on the Boulevard de la Vallette a brawl started* for trifling reasons, among five soldiers. Some Kabyles emerging from a nearby factory and passersby were mixed up in the scuffle. The police intervened, to re-establish order. Several arrests were made.”

What really occurred, though not a newspaper so much as hinted at it, was Father more serious. The soldiers who were on leave from the front, had heard that the Kabyles, who are Arabs imported to clean the streets, were to be used to repress disturbances among the civilian population. They had been told so by their wives, one of whom had been ogled by a Kabyle. When the “poiius” attacked them the Kabyles naturally resisted, and a riot ensued in which a dozen persons were severely wounded. This affray was preceded by an even bloodier affair, in which a number Of Annamite soldiers w’ere attacked by a crowd of women and “permissionaires" and several were killed. An Annamite battalion was brought to Paris at a time when the strikes were at their height, and the rumor spread with miraculous swiftness all through the city that the Annamites had been summoned because the French garrison would refuse to fire upon the crowd in the event of a riot. Depressing Rumors Flood City. That there was any truth in this may be doubted, but certainly the presence of the Mongolian troops at so stressful a period was unfortunate. Annamites are anathema to all Parisians nowadays, simply as a result of the rumors and the really furious fight that arose out of them. Yet, beyond a formal communique ho more communicative than that about the Kabyles, there has been no mention of the matter in print. Paris is flooded with rumors these, days, as it has never been since the first weeks of the war. Most of them are depressing and doubtless a considerable percentage are deliberately inspired by pacifists and pro-Germans, of whom there are a good many to be found in the Greek, and Spanish colonies. Whether they are true is of little consequence; the Important thing is they are believed to a large extent, even by persons well Informed about tlie situation as a whole. One of the minor problems connected with the “permissionalres,” who, released for the time being from direct discipline, have a tendency to become unruly, is the evil that lies in wait for them at the railroad stations in Paris. Almost all of them pass through the capital on their way to and from the front, and at the stations they are preyed upon not only by merchants of vice, but by the agents of anarchy and pro-Germans as well, who seek to inculcate peace-at-any-price ideas, and the desire to revolt by'spreading stories of the terrible conditions prevailing in the rear. The “poiius” learn in their own homes that most of these yarns are not true, but on the other hand they hear a mass of rumors which have almost the same effect upon weaker characters, and they believe them all the more really because they come from their own wives or relatives.